Why you should go for Facebook Ads instead of Google AdWords for your E-commerce business

Digital advertising is a gigantic pool of options. You can advertise your business on Facebook, Google SERPs, blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and the list goes on and on.

Add traditional advertising to the mix and most business owners and marketers just freeze. There’s simply too many options.

Even giants like The New York Times got confused at one point and conducted an extensive research on how the things should be.

But not everybody has that kind of resources for testing and research. Specially small to medium e-commerce businesses which face the same conundrum while deciding where to advertise.

Scientific research has constantly shown that more options people have, more time they are going to take to come to a decision. And less satisfied they will be with their decision.

We are going to help you decide.

So, when we talk about digital advertising two options immediately come to mind. Google, the unanimous ruler of the world wide web. And then there’s Facebook, a social disruptive force which has taken social media world by a storm.

Now, from a business owner’s perspective both have their pros and cons. Let’s take a look at them in detail.

Google AdWords

Pros

campaigns are easy to track large potential audience.

Prompt inflow of traffic.

Can have full control over your daily budget and maximum cost per click.

Defines cost per conversions and make you understand the point your profit is made.

Has targeting options as regions, time of day, days of the week and specific website.

Has different advertising options like Display Network, Search Network, and Re-marketing.

More likely to convert into sales as it target those who are interested.

Cons

Setup and management can take much time.

Incorrect setup and management can even be very expensive.

Space is limited within your ad.

Except Google Shopping and YouTube Advertising, you cannot include images or videos to sell products and services.

Depending on your target market, the large potential audience can turn out to be worthless.

Facebook Advertising

Pros

Campaigns are easily trackable.

Prompt inflow of traffic.

Can have full control over your daily budget and maximum cost per click.

Defines cost per conversions and make you understand the point your profit is made.

Has more targeting options as towns, regions, age, likes/interests, income bracket, and other demographics.

Depending on your industry, CPC is cheap.

Easy setup than Google Adwords.

Ability to reach targeted market before they are aware. their need. Also can use images and videos to capture their interest to sell your products and services.

Cons

Incorrect setup and management can be costly, but less than Google Adwords.

Depending on your target market, the large potential audience can turn out to be worthless.

Unless you choose a lifetime budget, no option is there to target your ads at certain periods; within the day or on certain days of the week.

Only suitable for B2C markets operators.

Reaching people too early can potentially reduce your goal conversion rate in the buying cycle.

Let’s take a close look at the two platforms

Targeting System

On Facebook, using filters, you can target your audience for your ads in three ways: by interests, demography and geography. So that your ads should reach the right audience and will be seen only by users you have profiled.

On the other hand, like Facebook, Google doesn’t know people. It cannot see what people like or see. So, the relevant ads are triggered through search terms. Eg. If you search ‘business courses’, you will see ads related to business courses.

In other words, Understanding what the page is about, Google match ads accordingly. As with Adwords, you have to bid on keywords and you have no control over who is going to see your ad. Or the ad might not be an exact matches to the website.

Facebook Ads vs. AdWords Ads

Both the process of creating Ads is different. Facebook target people’s interests rather than their search terms. Facebook shows Ads based on user’s like while Adwords focuses on keywords.

But the thing that emerges most is the average cost. On average, Facebook ads, are a third of the cost of Google Adwords.

BRAND BUILDING

Both the advertising platforms offer companies to build brand equity. With AdWords, a click takes the user to a company’s landing page, where branding, design and sales copy send a strong signal. If the user finds tons of ads and hyped headlines, they may not trust your site and immediately click off the site. Google may lower the rank if too many people bounce of the website quickly.

Facebook advertising is quite different. When people find his friend liking a product, trust barriers broke down much more quickly and easily than with advertising alone.

Or when a user finds the Ads on a regular basis, he develops a level of comfort. This makes him to click through the website or Facebook page.

DEMOGRAPHIC AND KEYWORD TARGETING

In Google AdWords, you can target keywords and demographic locations. While, Facebook allows demographic and keyword targeting far more precision. How? Users include their location. When you use Geo-targeting, your ads will appear to only those people whose profiles contain your targeted location.

Google AdWords doesn’t know about your users’ locations or their interested keywords. They only know what the user is searching. Which results in the probability of your ads, much lower in reaching the right audience.

Therefore, Facebook Ads usually has higher click rates and conversions than Google Adwords.

Which one works best?

Obviously, it’s your personal decision. But, what according to a PPC user experience, on both Google Adwords and Facebook Ads to promote his own product? Let’s see.

The user launched the product globally and run campaigns on both Facebook and Google, spending equal amount. Overall CPC campaigns on Facebook seems more effective and gave better ROI than Google. As in Facebook, you can target users by their place of work.

The combination of both Facebook CPC campaigns and Facebook page “Like” button, delivers better targeting and hence improved CTR’s. So using the real-time data, if we see the CTR’s for campaigns, Facebook is doing much superior job of optimization than Google.

Don’t overpay for Facebook ads

While creating Facebook Ads, you should be creative enough in designing your Ad as well as determining your budget. Yes, it is not an easy job but, when properly done, can achieve good results with a small budget. Here are some bidding options to help you when creating Facebook Ads.

Cost Per Click (CPC): As distribution is based on an auction format, each click will depend on the competition. It’s better to pay maximum on your ads.

Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (CPM): As already discussed, the amount you pay will depend on competition for the same audience and placement, pay maximum per 1,000 impressions of your ads.

Optimized Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (OCPM): Facebook bidding is automated, based on competition. It optimizes your ad by showing it to the targeted people, assuring you; reaching your desired audience.

Here’s a few tips for writing a fascinating campaign

As a helping hand, here are a few tips to create a successful Facebook Advertising campaign to get you started on the road:

Keep information short and simple.

Add an offer or price.

Add keywords.

Add interesting images/video.

Add URL above the image/video in the text section.

Use taglines and hooks to draw your potential customers in.

WHAT WE RECOMMEND

Like any marketing plan, there should be a mixture of marketing tools as well as advertising channels. Although this article shows that Facebook Advertising is quite more cost-effective solution, we would not recommend just relying solely on it for sales.

Instead, consider the other channels; which can also work best for you. Understand your business first before making any marketing plans.

CONCLUSION

Google AdWords may have advantage over Facebook ads with keyword targeting. But for competitive markets, which is usually the case with e-commerce, AdWords is expensive.

In our experience, Facebook ads give the best ROI in case of small-to-medium e-commerce businesses. It’s the best of both worlds — precise targeting and affordable bids.

About The Author

Sucker for Growth Hacking and Disruptive innovation, Global brand consulting and digital marketing exposure, Passionate about cooking and insightful conversations. I am still in process of realization of self.